Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Natural Man vs. Supernatural God

Are you disgusted with how you act at times? Are you
embarrassed over words you’ve spoken, or how your emotions invade like an alien
force, causing you to become a person you later regret?

And even though you are
aware of missteps, does it seem that, as time goes on, you only become more
defensive and vindictive? Do you feel your heart hardening and yet continue to
believe you are a compassionate and loving individual? Do you let yourself off
the hook by convincing yourself, “It’s only natural for me to be this way”?

It’s true that it is completely natural to act, think and
behave as described. I don’t condemn anyone for an honest admission that they raised their hand at one or more of the above. Oftentimes, the ugly self that
seems to come out of nowhere is a result of inner jealousy, rivalry,
competitiveness, animosity, dislike of others, frustration and a belief that we can always be in control.

I don’t condemn anyone for finding themself thus; I don’t
have to. When we are caught in this state, which I call naturalness, we are already condemned! Our misery and
lack of peace confirm it.

And we will continue to condemn ourselves when we allow our
natural man/woman to take over, thinking it to be this grand human experience!

God, on the other hand, is Supernatural.

Super, meaning
above, beyond, highest and totally superior to and outside of the natural. So,
while God created the flowers, and “The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1), God is not IN the
flowers. God is not a flower. Rather, the flower points to God. God is
glorified via the flower, which He alone created.

Everything originates through God (Genesis, Nehemiah 9:6 and Hebrews
1:1-2, along with many other verses, including several in Psalms and Isaiah) and
all of creation lives in a natural state.

By natural, I mean that, just like
the flowers, people are created by God, but are not God. When we
believe in Christ, His Holy Spirit enters us, but that does not make us God.

The Bible calls the Holy Spirit an “advocate” and “Spirit of truth” (John
14:16-17, 26; John 16:7; John 15:26). This Spirit is sent by God, not us, and answers to God, not us. We maintain a natural state
even after salvation, in that we are not God.

Now, this will only make sense if we actually have the
Spirit inside of us to reveal this truth to us: “The person without the Spirit
does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them
foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through
the Spirit”(1 Corinthians 2:14).

This is how we, as natural beings, can overcome our natural
state: through the Spirit of Christ who lives in us when we bow to Him as Lord and Savior.

This is how we “take captive every thought to make it
obedient to Christ”(2 Corinthians 10:5) and this is how we add to our faith
“goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to
self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness,
mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love” (2 Peter 1:5-7).

This is how we live Supernatural lives: through “His divine
power” that “has given us everything we need for a godly life through our
knowledge of him who has called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these
he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you
may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the
world caused by evil desires”(2 Peter 1:3-4).

This is how we stop living according to our nature and start
living according to the divine power within us.